Knicks-Heat Preview

By ALAN FERGUSONPosted Apr 05 2014 5:50PM

After facing mainly lottery-bound opponents in the past five games, the potentially short-handed Miami Heat now try to maintain their slim lead in the Eastern Conference by taking on a string of teams that are either headed to the playoffs or contending for berths.

With statuses of Dwyane Wade and Greg Oden uncertain, the Heat will try to get past the New York Knicks, who expect to have an ailing Carmelo Anthony on the court Sunday.

Miami (52-23) has played without Wade (hamstring) and Oden (back spasms) for the last five games but has managed to pull percentage points ahead of Indiana. The Heat have won four of five in that stretch, which featured four opponents that are currently eliminated from playoff contention.

Miami couldn't get past one of those teams Friday despite getting Ray Allen back from a five-game absence due to the flu. The Heat fell 122-121 in double overtime to Minnesota but caught a break when Indiana lost 102-94 in Toronto that same night.

"We just move on to the next one," forward Chris Bosh said. "We've got a big game Sunday. It looks like this thing is going to go down to the wire so we might as well have fun with it."

The Heat have two games in hand on the Pacers, who host Atlanta on Sunday night. Indiana will face two eliminated teams in its final five games while the Heat will take on six straight opponents that are no worse than ninth in their respective conferences.

New York (33-44) is in ninth, one game behind Atlanta. The Knicks were percentage points ahead of the Hawks on Wednesday after winning their third in a row but fell 90-89 to Washington on Friday.

Atlanta, which currently holds the tiebreaker because of its better conference record, beat Cleveland that same night.

Anthony re-aggravated a right shoulder injury that he said he suffered in a 110-81 rout of Brooklyn on Wednesday. The Knicks star committed a season-high nine turnovers Friday and was held to 10 points, his lowest total of 2013-14, but said afterward that "there was no way I was coming out."

"For sure, I'll be there Sunday," Anthony said. "... We've been up against the wall this whole time. ... We've got some pretty good wins on the road. We want to keep it up. We've got five games left to try to make this happen."

Anthony, averaging 27.7 points on the season, has averaged 34.0 in his last seven regular-season games against the Heat and had 29 in the most recent matchup Feb. 27 in Miami.

The Heat, though, got 31 points from LeBron James and 23 from Wade in a 108-82 rout. Miami has won two of the three matchups this season with James averaging 31.0 points and shooting 65.5 percent.

Wade has missed 24 games in 2013-14, but has played in all three against New York and averaged 22.7 points and 72.1 percent from the field, his best shooting percentage against any opponent.

"We'll just have to see how he feels (Saturday)," coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He's been stepping up his workouts every day."

Bosh has shot 29.6 percent and averaged 5.3 points in the season series, easily his worst scoring mark against any opponent.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

LeBron scores 38, Heat top Knicks 102-91

By TIM REYNOLDSPosted Apr 06 2014 8:34PM

MIAMI (AP) LeBron James couldn't wake up Sunday. He was sluggish when his alarm went off at 8 a.m. and still in a funk when the Miami Heat and New York Knicks tipped off five hours later.

He eventually got into form, just in time to perhaps doom the Knicks' playoff chances.

James scored 38 points and the Heat survived an NBA-record 22 3-point attempts from New York's J.R. Smith in a 102-91 victory that kept Miami atop the Eastern Conference standings.

"You do your job and you live with the results," James said. "We lived with the result of J.R. making some of those bombs."

Chris Bosh added 14 points and Ray Allen had 12 for the Heat (53-23), who are a full game ahead of Indiana (53-25) and two up in the loss column in the East race. The Pacers lost at home to Atlanta later Sunday night.

Smith was 11 for 28 from the floor, 10 for 22 from beyond the arc, and took 10 3s in the fourth quarter alone while Carmelo Anthony didn't attempt a single shot in the period.

The single-game mark was previously held by Damon Stoudemire, who hoisted 21 3s on April 15, 2005.

"It's not really been a goal of mine," Smith said. "I saw the open 3 and tried to take them. I had to take advantage."

Smith finished with 32 for the Knicks, who got 14 from Raymond Felton and 13 from Anthony on 4 for 17 shooting. Anthony has been bothered by a sore right shoulder, but played 44 minutes.

"Melo is still hurting," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "I couldn't rest him again tonight. That second half, he was giving us what he's got."

A bad day got worse for New York when the Hawks-Pacers game went final. The Knicks (33-45) are two games behind the Hawks in the race for the final playoff spot, three in the loss column. And New York has only four games left.

"Our fate is almost now in Atlanta's hands," Anthony said. "It's tough. ... My fate is in somebody else's hands."

The start suggested it would be a great day for the Knicks.

James had four turnovers in the opening minutes and New York - which had its best opening 2 1/2 minutes offensively in at least a decade, according to STATS LLC - held a 16-3 lead.

It was still 16-3 when Felton was whistled for a second early foul, and everything changed. The Knicks missed six straight shots and the Heat scored nine straight points. James - who had one turnover in the final 3 1/2 quarters - settled down and things started going Miami's way.

"I wasn't awake yet," James said.

Miami got snippy with one another in plenty of huddles during the game, something that Spoelstra seemed to particularly relish.

"Verbally spitting at each other, I like it," Spoelstra said. "That's what we need to get ready for the second season."

Miami's lead was 15 with just under 9 minutes to go before the Knicks made it interesting. Iman Shumpert missed a wide-open 3 with 3:30 left that would have gotten New York within four. James answered a layup at the other end and after Smith made his ninth 3, Mario Chalmers answered with one of his own, making Miami's lead 97-88.

So Smith made another, giving the Knicks life. And Miami again answered, this time Bosh doing the long-range honors to restore the nine-point edge.

James had four turnovers by the time Miami scored six points. But he settled in before the quarter was over, outmuscling Tim Hardaway Jr. for what became a three-point play. Hardaway tried to wrap James up on a break, but the four-time MVP kept going, scored and then flexed a biceps muscle to the roaring crowd.

"Trying to make a play," James said.

And after that sizzling 14-point beginning, New York needed more than 13 minutes to score its next 14 points. A 31-10 run helped the Heat take as much as an eight-point lead in the second quarter, before the Knicks went into halftime up 50-48.

Miami found some breathing room by scoring the final seven points of the third. James laid it in while getting fouled with 4.1 seconds left - and as "M-V-P" chants rained down he gave Miami its biggest lead to that point, making the free throw that put the Heat up 73-64 entering the fourth.

NOTES: Jeff Van Gundy worked the game for ABC, sitting three chairs away from former Heat coach Stan Van Gundy, working for ESPN Radio. ... Bosh had no rebounds in the first half, then seven in the third quarter. ... A fan clad in Knicks garb caught a T-shirt thrown into the stands by a Heat dancer during the fourth quarter. He threw it back onto the court. ... Hardaway Jr. is 2 for 22 in two games in Miami this season.

Copyright 2014 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Notebook: Heat 102, Knicks 91

THE FACT: The Miami Heat won the season series 3-1 against the New York Knicks.

THE LEAD: The Miami Heat withstood a shooting barrage by guard J.R. Smith to defeat the New York Knicks 102-91 Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Smith made a franchise-record 10 3-pointers and scored 32 points, but it wasn't enough to offset LeBron James and the Heat. James finished with a game-high 38 points, six assists and five rebounds. The loss dealt a severe blow to the Knicks' playoff hopes. They now trail the Atlanta Hawks by 1 1/2 games for the final postseason slot in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks play the Indiana Pacers Sunday night.

The Knicks appeared on the way to pulling off the upset. They jumped to an early 16-3 lead, but the Heat quickly recovered behind James. Miami led 50-46 at halftime and pulled away at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Heat did a solid job defending Knicks All-Star Carmelo Anthony, who finished with just 13 points on 4 of 17 shooting.

QUOTABLE: "I wasn't awake yet. I had four turnovers in the first quarter. It was a slow start on my part for sure. I owned that from the beginning but I figured it out from there."

-- James said of the Heat's slow start.

THE STAT: The Heat shot 55 percent from the field while holding the Knicks to 37 percent.

TURNING POINT: The Knicks hung around long enough to trim the lead to six late in the third quarter, but the Heat countered with a 15-6 run to grab an 85-70 lead.

QUOTABLE II: "Carmelo is hurting a little bit right now. I could not rest him again tonight. He is giving us what he's got. The next few days will give him opportunity to heal and get some treatment."

-- Knicks coach Mike Woodson said.

HOT: This was the most animated James has been in recent games. He was obviously disappointed after Friday's loss to Minnesota so he took out his frustrations on the Knicks. James took upon himself to be aggressive on offense.

NOT: It looked like Anthony was bothered by the sore shoulder on his shooting arm. It wasn't necessarily anything the Heat did defensively. Anthony just missed shots he normally makes, resulting in a poor performance from the field.

GOOD MOVE: After falling behind early, the Heat were able to first create separation by using a small lineup. Spoelstra went to a four-guard lineup, with Udonis Haslem being the only frontcourt player. It led to the Heat grabbing an eight-point lead in the second quarter.

BAD MOVE: At some point, the Knicks needed to go away from Anthony. He was obviously struggling, but continued to get shots. It may have been a better to move to run the offense through Smith, who had the hot hand.

NOTABLE: Heat guard Dwyane Wade (hamstring) and center Greg Oden (back) missed their sixth straight games ... Smith now has 10 career games with at least 8 3-pointers, setting an NBA record ... Heat center Chris Andersen did not play because of back and knee soreness ... Smith set an NBA record with 22 attempts from the 3-point line.